No, not THAT Jack!
He’s pretty special, though. But I mean Monterey Jack! And PEPPER JACK! (Pepper Jack pictured at the top, just before waxing.)

I love Monterey Jack and especially Pepper Jack. I use Pepper Jack in my homemade pepperoni rolls. I need homemade Pepper Jack! It all starts with learning how to make Monterey Jack, so I was excited to take on Monterey Jack for my first cheese challenge post for New England Cheesemaking.

I’m using my well worn copy of Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll from New England Cheesemaking as my guide.
Well worn not because I’ve made so much cheese but because I’ve fondled it a lot while dreaming about making cheese. I’ve made a lot of soft cheeses, and Farmhouse Cheddar as well as Traditional Cheddar from the book. Now I’m finally (finally!) plowing past my fears and making more new cheeses. There is a lot that is similar in making Monterey Jack to making Traditional Cheddar, so it’s a good recipe to venture out with first. Next month, I’ll be scaring myself to death with something really different. (More on next month’s cheese challenge later!)

Let’s get started! (And don’t miss the giveaway at the end of the post.)

*If you use whole milk, your Monterey Jack will be semisoft, the way we’re accustomed to finding it from the grocery store. If you use skim milk, it will turn out hard enough to grate.

I use direct-set packets of starter and liquid rennet. If you do one thing I tell you about today, buy liquid rennet!!! Save yourselves! (I don’t like the tablets.)

Step 1. Go milk your cow. Let the calf help.
I’m just kidding! You can use milk from the store if you don’t have a cow. I use raw milk from my Jersey sweetheart, Beulah Petunia. You can find out more about milk for cheesemaking here, including information as to whether or not you may want to add calcium chloride to your store-bought milk when making cheese. If you have trouble with weak curds when using store-bought pasteurized milk, for a two gallon recipe–add 1/4 teaspoon calcium chloride diluted in 1/4 cup cool water after the milk has ripened in Step 1 and before adding the rennet.

Step 1. (The real Step 1!) Heat two gallons of milk to 88-degrees F. (All temps in my posts are listed in Fahrenheit.) Add the starter and stir thoroughly.
Cover and allow the milk to ripen at 90-degrees for 30 minutes.

Milk holds its temperature really well in a covered pot, by the way.Step 2. After the 30 minutes have passed, add the calcium chloride, if using. (I don’t use it for my milk.)

Step 3. Add the diluted rennet and stir gently with an up-and-down motion for 1 minute. I’ve had people ask me what an up-and-down motion means. I use a big stainless steel slotted spoon and I just move the spoon straight up and down (or as straight up and down as I can) in the pot as opposed to stirring around in circles. It’s not that hard–you’re not going to mess it up. As long as you don’t go crazy stirring in circles, you’ll be okay.

Cover the pot again and let it sit at 90-degrees for 30-45 minutes, until the curd gives a clean break. I turned the heat back on under the pot for about a minute, bringing the temp back up to 90.
I use both a hand-held digital thermometer and a long clip-on cheesemaking thermometer. When I’m watching the temperature over a period of time, I use the clip-on one. When I’m spot-checking, I use the little digital one for a quick read.

Step 4. Cut the curd into 1/4-inch cubes and let set for 40 minutes. You can use either a long knife to cut curds or even a tall whisk.

How do you know if your curds are ready? You should be able to cut the curds cleanly, meaning they won’t fall back into a mushy mess together. It’s sort of like cutting little cubes of Jell-O. The curds have a similar jiggly consistency yet clear separation from each other. I usually just stick a butter knife in there to test it to see if the curds are ready. If I can draw a line with the butter knife and see the curds break apart, they’re good to go.

Here are some cut curds:
See how the pieces maintain their shape and separation from each other. We’re making cheese now, baby!

Step 5. Heat the curds to 100-degrees, increasing the temperature by two degrees every 5 minutes. This will take about 35 minutes.
Stir gently but frequently to keep the curds from matting.
It’s important to raise the temperature really slowly because the slow rise of heat causes the curds to expel whey and shrink. If the temperature rises too fast, the curds can get a hard skin to them and not expel enough whey. You can raise the temperature slowly by placing your cheese pot in a sink or larger pot of water that you heat gradually. I just turn the heat on the pot a little bit at a time, watching the temperature so it doesn’t rise too fast. (I turn the heat on and off, watching the temp rise slowly. I have a gas stovetop, which makes heat control more incremental and precise. If you have an electric stovetop, you may want to use the sink or double boiler method.)

Step 6. Maintain the curds at 100-degrees for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the curds from matting. Let the curds sit for 5 minutes.

There will be a ton of whey in your pot by now. Look at that–you can’t even see the curds!Step 7. Carefully pour off the whey to the level of the curds. Allow the curds to set 30 minutes longer, stirring every 5 minutes to prevent matting. Maintain the temperature at 100-degrees.Step 8. Line a colander with cheesecloth and place it in the sink. I put the colander on one side of my sink and the cheese pot in the other.
Ladle the curds into the colander. Sprinkle the salt over the curds, mixing gently, and let drain.
If making regular Monterey Jack, you wouldn’t add anything else right now. If you want to make Pepper Jack, now’s the time to add some hot stuff! There are a couple different ways you can make Pepper Jack, but here’s how I did it, based partly on the recipe for Pepato Toscano, a pepper cheese–the recipe is here. In that recipe, peppers are added in layers as the curds are put in the molds. Pepato Toscano is placed in a brine then aged with a natural rind (not waxed). It’s important to not have any additions like peppers poking out on the surface of a cheese that’s not waxed because it’s a possible invitation for mold to get into the cheese. I was waxing my Pepper Jack, so I went ahead and mixed my peppers into the curd along with the cheese salt. I used a tablespoon of coarse ground mixed peppercorns (red, black, green, and white) and a tablespoon of crushed red peppers (seeds and all).
Mixing cheese salt into curds for regular Monterey Jack:
Peppers mixed into the curds for Pepper Jack:Step 9. Place the curds in a cheesecloth-lined mold.
I also made another Pepper Jack where I did the layering technique with the peppers, alternating placing curds and peppers in the mold, trying to keep the peppers inside the cheese.
Press the cheese with a 3-pound weight for 15 minutes.

I don’t have a 3-pound weight. I got out my kitchen scale and starting weighing stuff. I came up with this ridiculous arrangement:
That’s a jar of ground cayenne pepper on top of a jar of dry beans. Together, they weighed 3 pounds.
Necessity is the mother of invention.

Step 10. Remove the cheese from the mold and gently peel away the cheesecloth. Turn over the cheese, re-dress it, and press at 10 pounds of pressure for 12 hours.

Note: If you’re using a homemade press, double-check to make sure the weight is pressing down on the cheese and not distributing across other parts of the press.
Now go to bed.

Whenever I start to make a cheese, I add up all the steps and the time for each step then plan it so that it’s ready to go in the press for the final pressing toward evening so it’s ready to come out of the press at a decent hour the next day. (You don’t want to be getting up at 3 a.m. to take cheese out of the press.) Plan on about 3 1/2 to 4 hours to get Monterey Jack ready to go in the press.

Step 11. Remove the cheese from the press and the cheesecloth. Place it on a clean surface at room temperature to air-dry. Turn twice a day until the surface is dry to the touch. Drying may take 1-3 days, depending on the temperature and humidity. I air-dried mine for 2 days. I use a rack or a cheese mat and I keep the cheese in a cabinet while it’s air-drying. (I have CATS.)

Regular Monterey Jack, after air-drying:
Pepper Jack, after air-drying:
This one is the second Pepper Jack I made with the layering technique with the peppers. Clearly, I need to practice that some more because some of my peppers got to the edges. (I’m going to wax it, so it’ll be okay anyway.)
This cheese came out better in general because the curds knit together better during pressing. It was my third swing in total at Monterey Jack. Practice makes (almost) perfect! (See how much smoother the last one looks? Keep trying with cheese. Like with anything else, you’ll get better!)

Step 12. Wax the cheese.
I keep my cheese wax in a crock pot dedicated to cheese wax only so it’s there all the time, waiting for me. I just put the lid on when I’m done. When I need it again, I heat it back up! Very handy. I just dip and dip, moving around the wheel of cheese, letting it dry in between dips, until I have a good solid surface of cheese wax.Step 13. Age the cheese at 55-degrees for 1-4 months, turning it over at least once a week. (If you use raw milk, your cheese should be aged for at least 60 days.) The flavor will become sharper as the cheese ages. Yield: One pound.

I place my waxed cheese on a sheet of aluminum foil with a little tag taped to it with the type of cheese and the date it went into the cheese cave.
And now you know Jack–and so do I!!!

I’ll let you know my Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack results just as soon as they’re aged long enough for me to break into them! And more info coming soon about my next cheese challenge–it’s going to be an adventure!

To help you get started making cheese, New England Cheesemaking is providing a package including (value of each item in parentheses): a hard cheese mold ($15.95), mesophilic culture ($5.95), veal rennet ($6.50), red wax ($5.50), cheese brush ($7.95), cheesecloth ($5.95), cheese salt ($2.95), and calcium chloride ($4.95). The total value of the package is $55.70.

For a chance to win: Leave a comment on this post and let me know you want it. ONE winner will be drawn by random comment number to receive the package. Eligible entry cut-off is midnight Eastern (U.S.) time tomorrow night (November 16). This post will be updated with the winner by 9 a.m. Eastern (U.S.) time on Wednesday (November 17). Return to this post to claim your prize!

UPDATE 11/17/10: The winning comment number, drawn by random.org, is #312, Shar. Email me at CITRgiveaways(at)yahoo.com with your full name and address for shipping!

I’m so excited! I just found out about a milk farmer who will allow people to come and get raw milk. Of course, it can’t be sold, so he takes donations to his farm. Cheese… yes! I could sure use these winnings!

well, I really enjoyed this post about making cheese just like I enjoy all your posts about making things. I especially enjoyed the pictures and I thought that you were weighing stuff to get the right pounds but I just couldnt figure out where you could see how much the stuff you were piling on top was weighing. After about the 3rd picture it dawned on me that that was actually your cheese press. Pretty neat. Oh, well, a good thing I dont make cheese. I probably would really screw it up although I was intrigued by your recipe for making Velveeta cheese a couple weeks ago. Since Velveeta is my favorite cheese I would love to make that but wont. I just sit at my sewing machine and quilt and continue to read your column every day and enjoy your pictures.

Your cheese looks excellent! I’ve made panir, a fresh cheese from Indian cuisine, and it is delicious. I would love to try and make different kinds, like you do, Suzanne! Enter me in the drawing, Please!!!!

I’d love to win this one. I’m getting married this week, and my husband-to-be LOVES homemade cheese (he’s been talking about making his own cheeses for as long as I have known him). I’d love to be able to have this kit in my kitchen – we could make cheeses together!

Oh, I’d love to try making cheese with our raw milk. You make it look doable, Suzanne!! Thanks for the opportunity for a chance to win the cheesemaking supplies. Yum, homemade cheese and grandmother bread for toasted cheese sandwiches.

never win anything but putting my name down! i have a question. i have serched the web and the cheesemaking forums and have not found an answer so maybe u can help me… how do u make colby jack cheese!!!!??? that is my favorite. was thinking i just making them both separatly then when aged mix and repress…. would that work???

In middle school we had to write a report on a future career. I thought it was a stupid assignment so I wrote my report about the career of a professional cheese maker. Fast forward…I grew up and moved to a farm and got two dairy goats and considered buying a cheese making kit…will I one day also listen to the Beatles and talk to my cats and wear velcro shoes?? My middle school me will be horrified!

carmelgp, I haven’t tried colby jack, but my guess would be that you make two batches simultaneously then divide and combine the batches into two marbled batches as the curds go into the press (and using two presses).

I love Pepper Jack Cheese! I have been making soft cheese for a while now and I think it is time to jump into the hard cheese! (winning the kit would really help :lol:)It really helps to see your pictures along with the steps, thanks so much.

Thank you so much making this seem simple and within reach. I’m all about the pictures too! I would love to win the cheesemaking kit. I’ve tried the cream cheese and mozzarella cheese with success, so I just need to take a deep breath and dive into hard cheese!!

Yummy pepper jack! I haven’t ventured into adding anything to a hard cheese yet. I have checked that book out from the library umpteen times. I’m going to buy it when I get a chance!
Thanks for the giveaway!
-Jenny-

Yea! I have the mozzarella Kit and have made it several times, mostly with success. I am ready to venture into hard cheeses, just need to make a cheese cave first. Thanks for the idea for Monterrey Jack, it is one of my favorite cheeses!

Michigan is another state that doesn’t allow the sale of raw milk. To get around here you buy shares of the cow and are allowed so much milk a week as part of your share. I still do want to learn how to make mozzarella cheese. So please enter me in the contest for the cheese making kit.

I would love to win a package as I also want to try different cheeses this winter. I think it will be a great project. So glad you are sharing your experiences with us. Glad to hear you were controlling the temp of the cheese on a gas stove, was wondering if that was possible. quiltingfarmer

Oooooooh, I really want that package from New England cheesemakers!
I have made some soft cheeses (creme fraiche and mozzarella) and would love to start making hard cheese….but have not invested in the hardware!
~mel

Thanks so much for your relaxed and pictoral step by step for jack cheese. I have been making 30 minute mozzarella and have been afraid to move on to Jack cheese. So, I have Isabel my jersey and Don Quixote my donkey, so I am armed and ready to proceed to jack cheese. (not fully unafraid) I would really love that cheesemaking package to take the leap!! Besides its my deceased moms birthday on the 17th!!! Thanks for taking the time and energy to post all of this!!

I’m so glad I found your forum through cheesemaking.com blog. I’ve been making cheese for about 1.5 years now and have been teaching others as well. I’m entering for a chance to win so that I can pass it on to my young friend, Justin, who asked me to teach him how to make cheese!

WOW, I can’t believe that you have extended past the barrier that I have feared — cheesemaking! I have some books and have read and read. You go!!
I win or know, it is my birthday Nov. 16 — breaking into mid-life (or as my kids say, old age!

I just wanted to tell you what a fun website you have here. It is quite splendiferous. Thank you for sharing your trials and tribulations with all of us. It makes me feel we are not alone in our quest for self-improvement. Nice to have company! I found you through my monthly “MoosLetter”( New England Cheesemaking Supply Co.).

Hi- I am a new cheese maker, I have an Oberhasli goat named Nannie McPhee and she gives wonderful sweet milk. I have tried several soft cheeses and made a cheese press last week… thinking of hard cheese but a little intimidated. I would love the Jack cheese kit- kick me into gear!

What a super informative post! I’ve been a big fan of making fromage blanc and cottage cheese but have thus far been chicken about trying hard cheeses–but your photos and directions make me want to take the plunge! Not only is making our food “from scratch” a very cool concept, but I’m also sold on the idea that ya-gotta-wait-for-it-to-be-ready (as in waiting a month for the cheese, or even 18 hours for No-Knead Bread or fromage blanc) is refreshingly Zen in this world of fast food! I’ll definitely try this out, as soon as I can find some young buck to help me make me one o’ them-thar cheese presses. . .

Thank you so much for the easy to follow recipe! I learn so much better when beautiful pictures are involved. I would love to win the intro cheesmaking kit since we’re fixing to have lots of milk coming my way from our 2 cows. Last time I tried making cheese, well, let’s just say it was interesting. Thanks so much!

I’m so glad to meet your Jack! The pictures make a huge difference. I just made Jack for the 1st time 2 weeks ago and was surprised when it turned out to be “mottled”as if the cream was clumping or something. I was glad to see that your Jacks seemed to be mottled too. Can’t wait to taste! – Dana

I would LOVE a cheesemaking kit!!! The price of cheese is going up and up and …..well, you know and with five kids still at home and with a family motto of “there’s no such thing as too much cheese” you KNOW we need to learn to make cheese.

I am very new to cheese making but want to make a difference for my family so learning bit by bit. I loved your weight contracption. That was ingenious. I see I have a lot to learn. Thanks for the column and site. And I would also love the cheese making kit since I have never heard of most of it and will sure need it. LOL

Suzanne, Thanks for the awesome explanation and pictures to make Pepper Jack cheese….my favorite. Please enter me in the drawing for the cheese kit. Hopefully, I can also progress from fondling my copy of Cheesemaking Made Easy and make some hard cheese!

I’ve been reading up on cheese making and have gotten everything together. I just have to build the press and I’m headed to the link you provided after leaving here. Your jack gives me inspiration to finally get my feet wet and make cheese.

Kara, I believe the third try had a better result because I pressed it better. My homemade was getting “off” on the weights, and once I realized that, I paid more attention to how the weight was distributing.

Ohh how I would love to make cheese, this year I have made so many new things thanks to your blog and learning how to can!!! Tomorrow would have been my dad’s birthday, I just would love to win the cheese making kit!!!

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